


Bad Blood Letting

by Linssikeittomies



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble Series, Drama, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Slice of Life, Underage Drinking, and some of them are not okay with it but they make it work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 2,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23080399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linssikeittomies/pseuds/Linssikeittomies
Summary: A series of drabbles, following Sing Soo Ling navigating through life. He might find it a lot easier if he wasn't so oblivious to his own feelings.Basically a summary of a longer fic that I will hopefully write some day.
Relationships: Ibe Akira/Sing Soo-Ling, Lee Yut-Lung/Sing Soo-Ling, Okumura Eiji & Sing Soo-Ling
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'd really like to work on longer fics but I'm finding it basically impossible these days. I started these drabbles as sort of a summary and draft for a full-length fic, and I hope that by writing and publishing these will help finally break from my writer's block.  
> Some of the chapters will be a bit longer, but not by much. Each will take place either on or near Soo Ling's birthday, so most character and romantic development will happen off-screen.

When Soo Ling is 13, he has great respect for the Lee clan. They defend their fellow Chinese man, and Sing’s own family owes much to them. Thanks to the Lees, his parents were able to find stable, respectable jobs – he knows that the only option for many outsiders is either illegal temp work or whoring. When his father died, the Lees gave his children good jobs so they could support their mother. The Lees aren’t ashamed of their heritage, and don’t want their supporters to shun their own, either. Soo Ling never has to spend a moment being ashamed or downplaying his ancestry, unlike the Mexican kid Piao is friends with. He respects the Lee clan, and out of that respect, he joins their gang.


	2. Chapter 2

On Soo Ling’s 14th birthday, he also celebrates becoming the second-in-command of the Chinatown gang. He has known Shorter Wong since he was little, and has nothing but good words to say about him. He is the best boss anyone could ask for, and soon Soo Ling’s respect for him outweighs his respect for the Lee clan. He also learns some harsh realities of life – the clan heads are not as perfect as he had thought. Some of them are borderline assholes, and the rest are at least manipulative. Still, that does little to undermine his loyalty to them. You can disagree with a person while still agreeing with their ideology – the fact remains that Soo Ling’s mom didn’t become homeless thanks to them, and they continue to support the whole community. All in all, becoming second-in-command changes his life little.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: underage drinking

As his 15th birthday rolls around, Soo Ling’s life has turned upside down. Shorter has died, Soo Ling has been forced to take his place, Yen Tai had left the gang and gotten killed, and the whole Lee clan has been revealed to be nothing more than a den of cobras – no, scratch that, that’s just an insult to cobras. A den of asshole shitheads. The worst of them is keeping the only other one left as a braindead figurehead.

Soo Ling doesn’t much feel like celebrating that year. His remaining family still insists on having cake, if nothing else, and his mother still gives him a new whetstone for his shéng biāo. He doesn’t say a word of it to Eiji, because he doesn’t want any more congratulations than strictly necessary. He can always tell next year. He nurses a bottle of baijiu far into the night, longing to get drunk but wanting to keep his head clear.

It isn’t a good day for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shén biāo: rope dart. Japanese term is apparently jōhyō.


	4. Chapter 4

On his 16th birthday, Soo Ling invites Yue Lung along for the party. Despite their bad history, they became friends somewhere along the line after they started working together to make Chinatown safe again. It probably started as pity on Soo Ling’s part, that soon morphed into sympathy as he learned more of the other boy’s history and circumstances, and a bit of respect for his unrelenting spirit. It’s just unfortunate it has to manifest in such a shitty way.  
Yue Lung isn’t yet very good at being friends - Soo Ling doubts he ever had one before - so he needs a lot of practice. He is quick to anger and insult, but he also texts Soo Ling on an almost daily basis to talk about whatever. Surprisingly often it’s flowers. They sometimes go out to lunch together, or watch a movie before proceeding to business. Yue Lung is not yet good at being friends, but he’s learning fast.  
Though that’s only when it comes to Soo Ling – with everyone else he remains venomous. He might not be overly hostile, at least if Soo Ling asks him to play nice, but there is always a snide comment and a condescending look hiding between the lines.  
“You’re the pearl among swine” is something Yue Lung is fond of telling Soo Ling, of course referring to his gang and friends. Soo Ling always corrects the statement to “I’m the head swine among swine”, and sometimes returns the sentiment to Yue Lung. They may be the king swine and king snake among their kind, but between the two of them, they stand on equal footing.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mention of underage drinking

By the time Soo Ling turns 17, he considers Yue Lung his best friend. His bitchy, extra, petty, best friend, who hates all his other friends. Eiji gets the worst of it, naturally, so Soo Ling very quickly learned to keep the two separate – but he can’t very well leave one uninvited to the party, so there he is, stuck playing mediator in a one-sided war. It still feels unfair towards Eiji, who is constantly left alone with people he doesn’t know well – because he can be trusted to stay civil with Soo Ling’s other friends, but Yue Lung can’t be counted on to not poison someone when left to his own devices. He needs a babysitter with him at all times. He doesn’t appreciate the wording.

“ _Fuck you_!” he screams at the top of his lungs, and with alcohol raging in his system he all but runs to Eiji to slap him across the face. Since everyone else loves Eiji, Yue Lung is soon thrown out, shrieking profanities the whole way.

“Sorry about that”, Soo Ling mumbles to Eiji, and no words have ever felt more useless. Eiji tries to smile, but can’t quite manage. He explains that it’s fine, it isn’t Soo Ling’s fault, and he can understand why Yue Lung hates him so much.

“It’s not like _you_ did anything wrong”, Soo Ling starts, but then doesn’t know how to continue. _Yue Lung is just pissed at Ash. I’ll try to be a better friend to you from now on. I’ll get you something cold for your cheek._ The others return to Eiji before Soo Ling can figure out a combination of words that doesn’t ring hollow, so he figures he better go find Yue Lung before he falls face first into a puddle somewhere and drowns.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: underage drinking

On Soo Ling’s 18th birthday, Yue Lung reserves the whole karaoke bar so there will be no outsiders ruining his night, and even brings one of his own men to bartend so the underage can drink all they want. Most everyone gets drunker than is wise, even Yue Lung with his surprisingly high alcohol tolerance can barely produce an understandable sentence. For the last ten minutes, he has been trying to explain something to Soo Ling, often lapsing into Cantonese, which Soo Ling doesn’t speak to begin with and is in even less condition to try and decipher at the moment. From what he can gather from the English parts, Yue Lung is trying to say something about death metal and baseball, but Soo Ling can’t tell what the connection is. He doubts Yue Lung can either.

“You cannn’t behhgu din”, Yue Lung garbles as he tries to gesture something with his hands. There seem to be swinging motions, maybe a circle, and Soo Ling understands it even less than he understands the words. Yue Lung groans in frustration, and throws his head back, tries to do the gesture again and fails as bad as he did the first time. Soo Ling laughs at that, while staring at the exposed neck. All he can think about is how beautiful Yue Lung is. He’s artwork on a scummy couch, a soprano in a karaoke bar filled with drunks. He’s sea glass tumbling down from the walls. He’s the color of breath in winter. His skin is flushed and warm, and his voice is husky without words when Soo Ling’s fingers graze against it. His head suddenly feels too heavy to keep up, and so he rests it on Yue Lung’s shoulder. Yue Lung tries to curse at him again, but the words come out as a barely voiced breath, and when words fail, he tries to shove Soo Ling off, his hand pushing softly against Soo Ling’s chest.

“Sorry”, Soo Ling mumbles against Yue Lung’s neck, because he’s always been a lightweight and is seconds away from passing out. He tries to use an arm to push himself off Yue Lung, but his hand can only find Yue Lung’s lap and it feels rude to lean his weight into that. He’s grown a lot and is very heavy. Yue Lung keeps trying to speak, and tries to slap Soo Ling, but with him so drunk his hand ends up just petting the cheek. There’s a groan, then someone laughs, and Soo Ling passes out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're both too drunk to realize they're trying to flirt with the other, I love these two idiots so much T^T


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mentions of suicidal ideation

The next year Soo Ling keeps his birthday party small for two reasons: first is that the memory of last year’s world-ending hangover will never leave his mind, and second is that Yue Lung has been suicidal and needs a sober friend to take care of him. Soo Ling decides to hold the party at his house, and only invites a few friends and classmates, and tells them to supply their own drinks. He keeps careful track of his own drinking, even though he gets teased over it.  
He finds that though being outright drunk can sometimes be fun, it’s safer to be tipsy. Not only because of brutal hangovers, but also because then he can tell when Yue Lung is about to use his paralyzing poisons on someone. He makes a note to not invite _that_ particular classmate anywhere with alcohol, as it seems to bring out a playboy personality that wouldn’t recognize danger if it stabbed him in the face.  
Then again, maybe Soo Ling is obnoxious in his own way.  
“C’mon, I want you to stay the night. You promised I could have anything I want”, he mumbles, and Yue Lung tch’s. Soo Ling knows full well he’s been abusing his birthday gift of getting-anything-he-wants the whole evening, but since Yue Lung has been complying the whole time, he sees no reason to stop. So far he’s gotten Yue Lung to tell a joke, to dance with him, to play nice with Eiji for five minutes, and apologize to Nina for being an ass when they first met.  
“ _No_. You’ve been interfering with my plan for weeks.”  
Of course, there’s one thing that Soo Ling wants more than anything, but it happens to be one thing Yue is most adamantly against. It’s been almost two months, Soo Ling had expected Yue Lung to forget about the suicide plan a week later. Yue Lung is the exact type of insensitive idiot to threaten self-harm to garner sympathy, _and_ flighty enough to forget all about it when the moment was over. But each time Soo Ling asks if he’d like to come with Soo Ling to the Halloween parade this year, or what he has planned for fourth of July, or if he’s free next week because Soo Ling feels like going to the movies, anything innocuous to probe Yue Lung’s plans for the future, the answer is the same each time – _I won’t be alive then_. Soo Ling may have been able to stall Yue Lung’s plan to kill himself, but he hasn’t been able to convince Yue Lung to give up on it.  
“Just for the night. You said ‘anything I want today’, and it’s still today.” Stalling is still a good option, Soo Ling can stall for decades if that’s what it takes. He could stall the rest of his life. He’s gotten good at pulling Yue Lung’s heart strings, so all he needs to do is flash some puppy eyes whenever Yue Lung tries to do something stupid. “I promise. Just for the night.”  
“Ugh, _fine_! But don’t expect me to happy about it!”  
Yue Lung is easy to manipulate. Soo Ling allows himself a teasing smile. Though his victory soon turns to confusion, as Yue Lung proceeds to try and blow him.  
Not that Soo Ling would have hated it, but Yue Lung would have. It’s scary how far Yue Lung is willing to for Soo Ling. He throws all caution to the wind and disregards his personal comfort, just to bring Soo Ling a bit of joy for a moment. He went against his whole board of directors to promise Soo Ling, a student who is still years from graduating, a position as CEO, gave him a house that could have been sold for a few million at least, just to name a few of the financial sacrifices he’s made for Soo Ling. And that’s a huge thing, yes, and far be it for him to deny he's happy about those, but Soo Ling could have lived without those – he doesn’t _need_ a six-figure job when he’s happy enough getting by, nor a three-bedroom house when he lives alone. What he has recently found out he _can’t_ live without is Yue Lung – his resolve, his tenderness with his deadly flowers, the light in his eyes when he talks about his mother, the way he silently fills the lonely voids Soo Ling’s father and Yen Tai left behind, the gentle words and touches he uses to comfort Soo Ling in the times when the past becomes too much to bear alone, how he allows his true self to come to the surface for air more and more often, these are all what have made Yue Lung precious and irreplaceable. The thought of him not existing anymore is impossible. It’s – not something a simple mind like Soo Ling’s can wrap itself around.  
Soo Ling will make up for the misunderstanding tomorrow. He doesn’t want Yue Lung to give himself just because he was asked to, he wants Yue Lung to want him in the same way he wants Yue Lung.


	8. Chapter 8

Yue Lung is 2 years older than Soo Ling, so he’s already 22 when Soo Ling turns 20. It isn’t a big difference, but somehow, on the day, it feels significant. 22 sounds like an adult, while Soo Ling still feels like a teenager. Or maybe he’d just been a mature teenager. Who can tell? Not Yue Lung, for sure. He’s currently threatening to make Soo Ling sleep on the couch if he doesn’t let Yue Lung win this round of Mario kart. In response, Soo Ling tickles him and Yue Lung falls off the track completely.

The rest of the guests laugh at the tickle fight that ensues. They’re getting more comfortable with Yue Lung, as he himself has mellowed out a lot after he and Soo Ling started dating. It seemed that a lot of his antagonistic behavior had stemmed from his unclear emotional state and wants. Soo Ling is teaching him, slowly but surely, and they both learn together. They still have many boundaries they don’t dare to push, and it feels stifling at times, but really, just being able to exist near Yue Lung is enough for Soo Ling. The same isn’t enough for Yue Lung, though, he requires much physical contact and constant reassurance that he’s Soo Ling’s number one priority, far above number two. Soo Ling doesn’t mind giving him either of those.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the fic (Don't) Hold Me by Twoheartsx Soo Ling calls Yue Lung mooncake, and I thought that was too cute not to steal.

By the time his 23rd birthday rolls around, Soo Ling finally understands that Yue Lung _does_ have reason to be jealous of Eiji. Much like with Yue Lung, it took Soo Ling a long time to figure out he was in love with Eiji.

He realizes this as Eiji walks in, and Soo Ling feels his heart making the same leap it makes every time Yue Lung kisses him. Soo Ling is deeply confused by this. It isn’t that he’s any less in love with Yue Lung– on the contrary, he loves the man more than ever before. He wishes he had made this another big party instead of just the three of them, that would make his distractedness a lot less obvious. He doesn’t want Yue Lung to notice anything is off, because he can be trusted to make a huge fuss of it. It isn’t easy, pretending everything is the same as it has been for years. And sure enough, Yue Lung asks what’s up with him, and for the life of him, Soo Ling wants to tell them both then and there. He takes a deep breath and starts with an “I’m –“ and then thinks better of it. He doesn’t want to leave Yue Lung, and he doesn’t want to make Eiji uncomfortable by revealing these unreciprocated feelings. But at the same time, keeping status quo sounds equally unpleasant. Yue Lung squints suspiciously, and Soo Ling promises to tell him later.

Three days later, he still hasn’t. Soo Ling has no clue what to do – should he ask for advice, should he repress the feeling, should he confess? Yue Lung can tell that whatever Soo Ling isn’t telling him has something to do with Eiji, and has drawn the wrong conclusion. Soo Ling can tell by the way he has suddenly stopped pestering Soo Ling about the issue, and makes a point of being unusually domestic and gentle. He’s trying to convince Soo Ling not to leave him, not understanding that Yue Lung means more to him than his own life.

“Mooncake”, he says gently, and draws Yue Lung to a soft embrace. “The king and queen of my heart.”


End file.
